Ex-cop takes plea for bizarre pantsless wreck

Updated 11:14 am, Wednesday, May 1, 2013

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Joseph Earl Myers

Joseph Earl Myers

Photo: Courtesy

Ex-cop takes plea for bizarre pantsless wreck

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A former San Antonio police sergeant has pleaded no contest and requested deferred adjudication probation for a bizarre incident last year in which he was found roaming the streets in his underwear near his wrecked city-issued pickup.

Joseph Earl Myers, 53, reached a plea agreement last week for misapplication of fiduciary property involving the $7,165 in damage to the vehicle.

State District Judge Melisa Skinner is set to decide later this month whether he'll serve a two-year term at a state jail facility or on probation.

Prosecutors have agreed to remain silent on the request and to dismiss two other charges. Myers has agreed to permanently surrender his law enforcement license.

“He's already paid quite a debt,” defense attorney Stephen Smith said Tuesday, pointing out that his client resigned soon after the February 2012 incident. “There's been a lot of collateral consequences to him, and we don't see any benefit that would come to anyone from a prison sentence.”

Officers found Myers, who later tested positive for cocaine, disoriented and wearing only boxer shorts, a T-shirt and Crocs near U.S. 281 and Mulberry Street, according to court documents.

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“I asked him about the fact he wasn't wearing pants and he stated that when he left home he thought his underwear were shorts,” Deputy Chief Janae Florance wrote in an Internal Affairs memo. “Although it was apparent he was not in his normal state of mind, he was able to answer my questions promptly, with no slurred speech.”

Myers' other charges included trying to dilute a urine sample with toilet water that same day and another misapplication charge involving $7,000 in cash used for narcotics buys and confidential informants.

The money was quickly returned to the account, and it's still not entirely clear if the drug test was part of an administrative or criminal investigation, Myers' attorney said.

“We felt this was the appropriate charge for the circumstances,” said Adriana Biggs, chief of the district attorney's white collar crimes division. “He will never be a law enforcement officer again.”